I-T searches at GMR offices across the country; reason for the searches not known

HYDERABAD: Income-tax officials searched the offices of the GMR Group in several cities across India and seized documents but the company said it was confident that the searches would reveal that its corporate practices and books are in order.

A senior income-tax official told ET that the department conducted searches at 28 offices of the company, including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar. "We have seized some documents as a part of our probe to ascertain if the company had resorted to any tax evasion," said the official, who did not want to be named.

GMR Group, which operates two of India's largest airports at Delhi and Hyderabad, has interests in power, airports, roads and urban infrastructure. It also operates two overseas airports at Turkey and Male and has operations in South Africa, Indonesia, Nepal and Singapore.

In a statement in the evening, the GMR group said: "This morning, officials from the income-tax department came to some of our offices to check out books. We are extending all assistance to the team of officials. We are confident that the officials will find our corporate practices and books satisfactory."

Further, the group said it followed "the highest ethical and legal standards in our businesses. As an Indian multinational infrastructure developer, we have businesses in Turkey, Singapore, Indonesia, Maldives, South Africa and Nepal besides India and have robust institutional measures to monitor as well as implement corporate governance of the highest order. We are confident that these on-the-spot checks will vindicate the same."

GMR's shares fell 4.4% to Rs 22.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange in the morning on the news of I-T searches and gained 3.44% at Rs 24.05 by the close of the trading hours. The exchange's benchmark Sensex rose 173 points at 18,804 points.